


There's Not a Word Yet

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Whatever Else Comes AU [3]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-16 11:37:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21507316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: Della should stop telling people she's fine.
Relationships: Daisy Duck & Donald Duck & Goofy & Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse, Della Duck & Daisy Duck, Della Duck & Donald Duck
Series: Whatever Else Comes AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547776
Comments: 18
Kudos: 211





	There's Not a Word Yet

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what I set out trying to write, but I ended up with a fic about Della and Donald hanging out with their friends and Della trying to get a handle on her life.  
> plot twist, that's just her arc in this whole au.

Della wasn’t sure how she’d ended up along for this ride. She knew Donald still hung out with their old friends, but somehow “Mickey and Minnie Mouse are in town” had turned into “everyone’s getting together at Goofy’s place and you’re not allowed to ditch it” and now they were sitting in her childhood bedroom getting ready for a party she barely wanted to attend.

“They’re excited to see you, Dell,” Donald said, not even turning around to look at her. He was digging through her closet to ‘find you something decent to wear.’ “Honestly I thought Min was going to crawl through the phone to see you when I told her you were here.”

“Donald, I don’t think this is a great idea,” Della replied. She flopped back onto the bed, staring at the glow stars stuck to the ceiling. “I haven’t – I haven’t been around a lot of people in a while.”

Donald fell still. He turned to face her, a dress falling from his hands onto the floor as he did so. “It’s no more people than live in the mansion. But if you really think it’ll be overwhelming, you can stay home. I don’t want to cause a panic attack or anything over a dumb party.”

“No, I won’t – I don’t think – I should be fine,” said Della. “If it’s really only going to be a handful of people.”

“I’ll text Goof and double check,” Donald said, nodding firmly. He tapped out a quick message on his phone before returning his attention to the closet.

“What if they all hate me?” she said quietly.

“They won’t.” He sighed. “They don’t.”

“As you so love to remind me, I left for ten years,” she said. “Dropped off the face of the earth! Pretty literally. And they’ve been with you, helping you fill the kids’ heads with –“

“Closer to eleven,” he corrected. “Della, we all thought you were dead. Right now, they’re too happy you’re alive to care about the details.”

“Fine, so in three weeks when the shine’s worn off they’ll hate me. Just like you and the kids.”

“The kids don’t hate you.”

“But you do?”

“I don’t hate you either.”

Della sat up, crossing her legs. “You don’t really act like it.”

Donald tipped his head back, looking up at the ceiling like it might give him some answers. “Just because I’m unhappy with you doesn’t mean I hate you.”

“Donald,” Della said.

“Della.” Donald set a hanger back on the rack. “You know, you never used to assume I hated you when we fought.”

“Yeah, well,” said Della, “things are different now.”

“Yeah,” said Donald, “things are different now.”

They were silent for a while, Donald still sorting through Della’s closet, but eventually Donald’s phone dinged.

“Goof says it’s just us, Dais, Mickey, and Minnie,” he read. “Looks like Max won’t even be there, he’s staying over at a friend’s house to work on a –“ he paused, reading the text over again before finishing, “- gastrointestinal system theme park for a class project?”

“He’s what?”

“Designing a gastrointestinal system theme park.” Donald laughed. “Middle school is a _lot_ weirder now than when we were kids.”

“Tell me about it,” said Della. She paused. “But, like, actually tell me because I want to be able to talk to the kids about their lives.”

“How about on the way to Goofy’s?”

\--

Goofy’s house was on the other side of town, but traffic was light.

They parked a few houses away on the street, and Donald got out of the car right away, but Della lingered in the passenger’s seat. “Donnie –“

“They’re so exited to see you, Della,” Donald said gently. “They love you.”

“If you say so,” said Della.

“I do.” Donald rounded the car, opening her door and tugging her out of the seat. “C’mon.”

He pulled her down the street, only letting go when it was time to knock on Goofy’s front door.

_“I’ll get it!”_ a voice called on the other side of the door. It opened to reveal Daisy Duck, her hair loose and falling into her face. “Hey, Don.” She paused briefly, jaw falling open. “Della. Oh, god, I knew you were coming, I knew you were back, but _oh my god_.”

Della gave a hip-level wave. “Hi, Daze.”

Daisy’s eyes filled with tears and she threw herself at Della. Della caught her almost automatically, wrapping her arms around Daisy’s waist. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

“Neither can I sometimes,” Della replied quietly.

“ _Dais-eeeeeeeee, quit hogging her!”_ Mickey called from the living room. That was enough to break the moment between the two women, and Daisy took Della’s hand in one of hers and Donald’s in the other and dragged the twins into the house.

As promised, Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy were waiting for them, but no one else was there. They each caught Della in a tight hug in turn. Goofy’s was so enthusiastic that he lifted Della fully off of the floor, letting her feet dangle for a moment before he set her back down.

Minnie tracked the movement. “Della, what happened to –“

“The crash,” Della replied quickly, “I lost it in the crash. I had to improvise, made the prosthetic myself. Works pretty well though if you ask me.”

Minnie and Donald exchanged slightly worried glances at her tone.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Della. “My decade’s been boring, what have all of you been up to? Tell me everything I missed – Mick, Donald says you and Minnie went professional? Got famous and everything?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Mickey, “got our big break about – what, Min, a year? – a year after you left. This little short film called _Steamboat Willie_ , wasn’t supposed to be much, but then it totally took off.”

\--

The funny thing about being with their old friends was that for a few hours, Della could almost pretend that she’d never gone anywhere at all. Sure, those few hours were spent talking about all the stuff she’d missed, but she fell back in with the gang like she’d never even left. Before long they were swapping in-jokes and playful jabs just like the good old days.

So why did she still feel so lost?

Here, of all places, she should be able to feel grounded. Back at the mansion she was just absolutely surrounded by reminders of how much time had passed, how badly she’d fucked everything up. She couldn’t even talk to her brother without having it hang over her. But she’d hoped, she’d really, _really_ hoped that if all of her oldest, dearest friends didn’t hate her, she’d feel better with them.

Somehow, though, she was sitting tangled up with Daisy, Goofy on her other side, and Donald sitting on the opposite couch between Mickey and Minnie, and she still ached with loneliness.

Maybe it was just knowing that Donald had had the four of them with him all this time that she’d been alone.

Maybe it was knowing that she could have been with them, living the life she’d been planning on all along.

Maybe it was the memory, the one that still stung so sharply, of the look on Daisy’s face when she told her about the Spear.

“-lla?” Goofy was saying, gently squeezing her shoulder. “Della, are you okay?”

Della shook herself out of her daze. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Daisy said quietly, gently wiping a tear away from Della’s cheek.

“Do you want to go home?” Donald leaned forward, pulling away from Mickey to sit right at the edge of the couch.

“No, I – no,” said Della. “No, I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that,” Minnie said, frowning.

Della stood up, disentangling herself from her friends. “I just need a breather, okay? I’ll be right back.” She threw a look at her brother, who looked ready to jump to his feet and follow her. “Donnie, stay, I’m _fine_.”

She wandered out to the back porch and sat down on the step, staring blankly across the yard. God, no wonder the kids hadn’t fully warmed up to her, if she’s this much of a mess about her own friends.

She didn’t know how long she sat there before the screen door creaked again and Daisy crept outside. The sun was low, but it had been late afternoon to begin with.

Daisy didn’t say anything, just sat down next to Della and pulled her knees up to her chest. Della let her head fall onto her friend’s shoulder.

“I have a new best friend,” Della said.

“Oh, yeah? And what does that make me?” Daisy asked. Her tone was playful, but she had a careful look in her eye.

“My other best friend, don’t get worked up.” Della pulled away from Daisy, shifting to look at her fully.

Daisy pushed Della’s hair away from her face. “How are you doing, really?”

“Well Penny – my moon friend – has gone _back_ to the moon to help pick up the pieces of their society, which super sucks,” Della said, her eyes dropping to her folded hands in her lap. “And also my kids – who I literally spent a decade trying to get home to, to _survive for_ – aren’t my kids and, like, kind of don’t trust me! So that’s the worst. But I’m fine, Daze. I’m – I’m doing _great_.”

Her voice broke on the last sentence.

Daisy swept her hands through her hair – and, for a moment, Della was distracted by wondering when the last time she’d seen Daisy’s hair down, since she’d always been a ponytail girl, and _oh yeah_ it had been ten plus years since Della last saw Daisy at all – and then pulled Della’s hands into her own.

“Dell, you know I love you, right? You know we _all_ still love you so much,” she said. She had a small, crooked smile on her face and her eyes were a little teary. “I have been talking you up to those boys since they were _born_. They’ll come around, okay? Maybe not all the way to where you were hoping, but they will warm up to you, because you’re Della Duck and you’re _amazing_.”

Daisy tugged her into a hug then, and Della absolutely melted into it. She rested her chin on Daisy’s shoulder, letting herself enjoy the familiar feeling. They sat like that a long time, until the screen door creaked again.

“I thought I’d find you two out here,” Minnie said. Daisy and Della both looked up, pulling apart a little bit but still holding onto each other. “It’s getting late, we should all be heading home.”

She helped them both up, then pulled Della into a tight hug of her own.

“It’s really good to see you, Min,” Della mumbled into Minnie’s shirt.

Minnie leaned back, cupping the back of Della’s head in her hand. “You too, you silly duck. I’ve missed you so much.”

Donald was waiting by the front door when they went inside, talking quietly with Mickey and Goofy. He broke off when he heard the girls coming, and when he looked at Della she saw some of the fragility she was feeling reflected back in his expression.

“You ready to go home, Dell?”

Della squeezed Minnie’s hand and smiled over her shoulder at Daisy.

“Yeah,” she said, looking back at her brother. “Let’s go home.”


End file.
